The Effects of Anticipating Metacognitive Judgments about Mind-Wandering

Across two experiments (N = 121, 121) we examined whether the anticipation of metacognitive judgments in the form of experience sampling probes of mind-wandering influenced attentional engagement. Participants completed a metronome response task in which they tried to hit the spacebar in sync with a steady metronome tone. To maximize possible anticipatory effects, we implemented a task condition in which a visually presented timeline explicitly indicated the precise moments when participants would be required to report on their experiences of mind-wandering. We compared this condition to one in which thought probes were presented without any visual cues signaling when they would appear. Results demonstrate that the visual presentation of when experience sampling events would occur produced significant reductions in mind-wandering and decreases in task performance as the probe approached. These findings suggest that the anticipation of metacognitive judgments reallocates cognitive resources, suppressing both mind-wandering and task-related processing. More broadly, these results demonstrate that the anticipation of metacognitive demands can play an active role in the regulation of attentional processes. The deidentified experimental data, analysis code, and study materials are available at this link https://osf.io/phjkq/?view_only=e521db50368b4295a939c66ce1db2162 .